


You're The Only Song

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s02e18 17 People, F/M, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-04-28
Updated: 2001-04-28
Packaged: 2019-05-15 14:18:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14792099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Memories of the Past





	You're The Only Song

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

Title: "You're the Only Song"   
Author: Tara Patterson   
Rating: PG   
Category or Pairing: Jed/Abbey   
Spoilers: 17 People   
Archive (if applicable): Just let me know where.   
Disclaimer: Jed and Abbey Bartlet are the creation of that genius Aaron Sorkin. I'm just taking them out to play for a bit. The song, "You're the Only Song" was written by Harry Chapin, another genius!   
Author's Notes: This is the second song fic I've written and I want to thank everyone for their feedback! It is a companion piece to "Dreams Go By". 

 

 

I've sung it all tonight  
Almost every story that I know  
And now when they turn out the spotlights  
I'm not sure where I'm s'posed to go  
And I'm so hoarse I can't hit the high notes  
It's just a whisper when I'm low  
But when you sing from the inside  
You hope that something shows  
And that is why 

Abbey hung up the phone and sighed. She hadn't thought that he would take Toby's reaction so hard, but perhaps it was for the best. Someone, other than her, needed to kick his ass about the MS and the cover-up and she was glad that Toby had stepped up to the plate. It was all going to hit the fan and he needed her. 

He had actually come out and said the words, "I need you, Abbey. I can't do this without you." 

As she packed her bags to return to the White House, scenes began to play like a movie inside her head. 

Yes you are the only song, the only song I need  
You're my laughter and you're my lonely song  
You're the harvest and you're the seed  
And you're my first and my final song  
For you own me indeed  
Oh yes, oh yes,  
Yes, after all is said and done  
You're the one song that I need 

A young man running across the Quad at Notre Dame, tripping over a small rock and landing in her lap. She screamed in surprise, and then accepted a date with him for dinner and a movie that night. 

He's running up the steps of the church, 15 minutes late for their wedding. She'd wanted to strangle him with her bare hands, but then he'd made promises of love and placed a gold band on her finger. 

"Let's run for Congress!" he'd declared one late night as they lie in bed. She saw the spark in his eyes and agreed without a second thought. 

The night she'd walked out on him, slamming the door shut behind her. He'd made her so furious with this refusal to listen to what she had to say. She'd gotten as far as the driveway when he'd run out after her, wrapping his arms around her and whispering apologies. 

Walking into her hospital room, holding a pink bundle in his arms, his face beams with pride as he hands her their eldest daughter. 

"Josiah Bartlet is the newly elected governor of New Hampshire!" a voice on the television declared as the room went up in cheers. He could have taken the bows that night; instead he'd declared that she'd been his driving force. 

I've sung my songs to silence  
To empty clubs and crowded bars  
I've sung my songs to standing room  
Even sung 'em to the stars  
But the faces they fade together  
And the applause it's gone so fast  
And the story of every darkened stage  
Is that the glory just does not last 

Sitting in a doctor's office, listening with fear, as the physician makes his diagnosis. He'd reached over and clutched her hand in his trying not to let her see the tears as they fall down his face. She'd listened attentively, asking pertinent questions; all the while a voice screamed in the back of her head that it wasn't true! 

They sat on their bed, clinging to each other for hours as the realization hit them. Vowing to fight together, they cried in each other's arms knowing that they had to tell their children. 

And now as she sits in the back of the black sedan as it drives through the rain, Abbey knows in her heart that she is bound to this man. Not just because they have children and grandchildren together. And not because of the houses, the cars, or the position and power they have. But because she loves this man with her heart and soul and nothing will ever change that. 

He drives her crazy with his bits of trivia and the fact that she has to bribe him to take his medicine. But he's there when she needs a shoulder to cry on or a gentle reassuring voice. 

He needs her too. Not just to remind him to take his medicine, but to hold him when the demons close in and to kick him in the ass when he deserves it. 

Their lives are bound together and for this reason and many others, she steps off the plane and into his waiting arms. As he kisses her tenderly, she knows that they will face this latest crisis the same way they've faced every other challenge...together. 

And that is why  
Yes after all is said and done  
You're the one song that I need


End file.
